A wide variety of poultry drinkers are commercially available worldwide. These poultry drinkers conventionally include a bell including a watering trough at the bottom thereof, and a neck at the top. Operatively associated with the neck a valve is provided, as well as some sort of valve actuating structure mounted on the bell itself in the neck area. Typical of these structures are those shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,590,782; 4,196,699; and 4,215,653.
It has been found that when drinkers are used in the field they oftentimes are subjected to rough treatment, and a common point of breakage is in the area surrounding the neck. Further, with large increases in transportation prices in the recent past, the costs associated with shipping poultry drinkers often approach, or even exceed, the cost of producing the drinkers themselves.
The poultry drinker, and component parts thereof, according to the present invention take into account the above-mentioned problems associated with the present commercial production of poultry drinkers, and provide a structure that is easy to ship, includes readily replaceable components at the prime area of breakage, and yet is simply assembled in the field, and functions at least substantially as well as presently available poultry drinkers.
The poultry drinker according to the present invention is headless. That is at the portion of the bell opposite the top no head is provided, but rather merely an opening with an annular support surface defining the opening. Without a head, the drinker can be easily shipped, taking up much less space than most conventional drinkers of the same basic size.
According to the present invention connection of the drinker bell to the valve means, and to a ballast, is provided by a replaceable cartridge assembly. The cartridge is insertable into operative engagement with the annular support surface defining the opening at the top of the bell, and it is held in place by a nut threaded into engagement with a portion of the cartridge extending out through the bell open top. A conventional valve assembly may be attached to the cartridge, and openings are provided in the cartridge to allow water flow from the valve down the exterior surface of the bell into the trough.
At the bottom side of the cartridge, interior of the bell, a threaded post is provided for connection to a stand, ballast bowl, or the like. Since damage to drinkers most often occurs at the connection to the valve, valve actuating portion, or ballast or stand connection, and since the replaceable cartridge according to the invention performs all those functions, if any damage does ensue the cartridge may merely be replaced, and the entire drinker need not be discarded.
The replaceable cartridges according to the present invention may be of several types to provide great flexibility in the type of drinker irrespective of the construction of the bell or valve assembly. For instance one type of cartridge can provide for operation of the drinker solely as a suspension type drinker, such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,590,782. Another type of cartridge may provide for the utilization of the drinker primarily as a ground-supported drinker, such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,164,201. A third type cartridge may provide for utilization of the drinkers either a standing or hanging type drinker, such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,196,699.
The bell according to the present invention is preferably dimensioned to provide for maximum stackability thereof. According to one preferred embodiment of the invention, the bell is formed having a top conical portion with a large angle of taper, and a bottom conical portion with a small angle of taper. However the taper of the bottom portion is substantial enough to provide good nestability of the drinkers. A headless bell with such nestability provisions allows a fantastic increase in the number of complete unassembled drinkers that may be packaged within a given volume, and can result in substantially lower transportation costs.
It is the primary object of the present invention to provide a versatile, easily shipped, effective poultry drinker. This and other objects of the invention will become clear from an inspection of the detailed description of the invention, and from the appended claims.